Stop Chasing Skinny, Chase Strong: Real Talk and Setting Goals with Pam Sherman

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  0:04  
Hello, and welcome to Your Health Moment podcast. I'm your host Max Sturdivant better known as Dr. Fitness. On this podcast, I want to give you the tools to start, continue and never give up on your journey towards health. Now, whether you struggle with your weight, eating the right food, hydration, exercise, or even time management, you're in the right place, and I'm here for you. Now, let's dive right into this episode.

Thank you for joining us for another episode of Your Health Moment. I'm your host, Dr. Fitness. And as always, we're going to discuss all things holistic health, and wellness. And today is going to be no different. I'm super excited that the New Year is here. And so many people have put together New Year's resolutions. And to be honest, most of them not gonna be successful, though. Now, I don't say that to take away hope. Because I think hope is really essential. But I say that to encourage you to find a professional that can support you on that be accountability partner and give you the resources that you need to be successful. And today I have the pleasure of welcoming back. Pam Sherman, the CEO and founder of the Perfect Balance certified trainer and instructor since 1997. Pam is in my tribe. She is my people. She is She totally qualifies as a guru. And if you're over well, if you're any age, and you're looking for a smart way to eat right, and to make sure that your New Year's resolutions are resolutions, that you'll be able to keep an eye out for the day of New Years, not for this month, that new year's end. But for the entire year and beyond, you know the information Pam can can provide will be helpful to helping you to accomplish what you really want to accomplish. 

But first, I'd like to thank our sponsor, McGowan Spinal Rehabilitation Center. So if you've been in a car accident, it can be physically and mentally traumatic. At McGowan Spinal Rehabilitation Center, you get first rate care with the latest equipment and technology for your physical trauma. But their kind and caring staff also rehabilitate your mental trauma from the accident as well. So if you'd like more information, just call 904-350-5544. That's 904-350-5544. 

Hey, I appreciate you joining us again, Pam. But I couldn't think of anybody to help people to tackle New Year's resolutions better than you can. So you have tons of information. And why don't you start with telling us a little about your experiences with New Year resolutions and helping people?

Pam Sherman  3:09  
Many people thank you, Max. I mean, you are my people. And it is such a pleasure to be on again. So thank you for having me on twice in such a short amount of time. We could talk for hours, so I try to keep it super short this week. I have seen more people my clients fail than succeed. Because they have too many goals too big goals, goals that aren't attainable, or achievable. Um, you know, the smart, most smart goals? Oh, yeah, I, I of course you do. I feel like people are so desperate to change. They want to change everything, which, like you said might even not last one day, they end up changing nothing. And in health. It is not a quick fix everything in our society DoorDash Instacart. Everything is quick. But our health is not quick. So it's not glamorous. It's not sexy. But the clients that I've had, they want to do this and this and this and this and I'm like, Okay, can we do one thing, and do it for a week or two and then do the next thing and like, but I want to see results. Now. Friends, you're never going to see results quickly. Your health is a marathon. It is not a sprint. I mean, yes, if you get the flu, you get a great eight to 10 pound weight loss in two days. But that weight just comes back on when you feel good again, for the most part, we

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:29  
really, you know, I always say it's like, it's easier to bring your body down than it is to build it up. So you could you could destroy your body actually pretty quick. That you could do, but you can't build it really quick.

Pam Sherman  4:45  
No and your daily habits really matter more than anything else. Anything that you're like, Oh, I'm going to try this for a week. You know, that stuff never lasts long term. I always say slow results are long term results that quick fixes, they just come back on. I mean, everything that you see on the market, the Optavia is the the quick fix is they work until you stop doing them. And all the weight comes back. Okay. I mean, we could talk about that to the muscle loss with the ozempic. I mean, as Empik is great for morbidly obese people that really struggle with their health. That is who was made for. Right. But anyway, we're talk about resolutions resolutions, all

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  5:29  
right, yeah, thank you.

Pam Sherman  5:30  
They should be small, they should be doing one thing, I will say, I haven't had one, I had one client, and all my years, changed their life, because they change their habits one at a time. For everybody else, it was too much work. Like it's too much work, I can't do this. And it's your health. This is the only thing you have control of your whole life, you can't control your partner or your kids in a job kind of. But there's so many things out of your control, the only thing you have 100% control of is your health. And if you make one change this week, and do it every day, and you're like I got this, then you make another change the next week. That's it slow and steady progress for the win.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  6:09  
Great. And that way, you just don't feel overwhelmed. And I agree with you like most programs that people start, they just throw so many things at them at once. That they immediately feel overwhelmed. So what and

Pam Sherman  6:22  
even the gyms I mean, I used to work for a gym that did the six week challenge, right? You drop 20 pounds in six weeks, and you don't have to pay for those six weeks. Well, it was a lot of deprivation. And those workouts were very, very hard. And it was not a healthy way to lose weight. And I do not know one person that lost 20 pounds in six weeks and kept it off. You have to really be realistic about your goals. It's not going to happen. Like I said overnight, it's not going to happen fast. But that slow progress day after day, week after week, month after month really does lead to long term success. I

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  6:57  
totally agree. So when it comes to New Year's resolutions, do you know the regular ones are? I want to lose weight. The other one is I want to eat better. Another one is I don't want to be as stressed I get that one or more family time that which is always nice. Yes.

Pam Sherman  7:23  
I feel like people don't succeed when they are looking at their health in terms of deprivation. So I think adding things to your day for your resolutions is great. So to be less stress, adding in meditation every day is a great thing to do. Now, people I know people are gonna say I have monkey brain I can't meditate. There's so many free meditation apps out there. I love Insight Timer myself. There's two minute meditations five minute 10 minute but adding that, okay? When people want to eat better, it's not so much. Let's take away everything. What about if you added more protein to your meals? We talked about this before. But if you added more vegetables, adding more of the good stuff, will crowd out the stuff that's not going to help us really on our health journey. And that way it's not you're not really white knuckling it because, Max, I've done everything wrong. I grew up in the 80s and the 90s where you weren't supposed to eat to lose weight. So you're just white knuckling it hoping you can make it to bedtime. Now when I tell people I want you to have more than like word no more. I want you to have a ton of vegetables every day that's going to keep you full and we eat more protein to protect the muscles. You're working so hard to build. Like I can lose weight that way. Yes, yes, you absolutely can add more daily walking because daily movement is so important for our bodies. The family time I did not you know that's going to be different for everyone. But as far as the food and the fitness it's it's more adding been taking away.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  8:48  
I like how you said when they respond to you. I'm going to lose weight that way. That is the biggest question. I think for me, losing weight should really never be the primary focus. I just think thinking about weight in is a way to just derail your success. I think it really needs to be more about body composition. What do you know? If because Arnold Schwarzenegger may weigh 300 pounds but if it's all muscle, I personally don't see the problem with it. So I think it's more about the composition than the weight.

Pam Sherman  9:29  
I agree and I in fact I just wrote a blog about let's stop chasing skinny and start chasing strong. I don't know if you know my story Max about getting hit by a car that we talked about this last

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  9:40  
time. I don't remember that. So if you can give a review that would be great. Because yes,

Pam Sherman  9:44  
well my whole life I've been a runner and in 2014 I started strength training on the regular. In 2016. I was out for a run and I got hit by a car. I base planted into the windshield and rolled off the car. And luckily there was no traffic coming and went to the sidewalk. And bottom line was seven years ago. Now, my strong muscles protected my bones. I didn't break any bones, I lost a bunch of teeth that day, but I did not break any bones. And that made me realize that I don't want to help women be skinny, I want to help them and be strong because stripe is really going to help you for the rest of your life. Big time. I know, I see older people in my grocery store frail, very skinny, I'm like skinny does not look good. It's not what we're going for skinny can help you help you pick up the groceries off the floor or pick up grandkids, but strong Canada, and unfortunately, our society wants all the women to be thin and beautiful. And that's like that, that's unfortunately we get that message from all the media, you know, Hollywood stars, all the things, but strong is really where it's at. So I want to help women stop chasing the skinny and start chasing being stronger in their bodies.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  11:01  
When it comes to like actual steps that people can take, because you have some amazing course material, and clubs that people can join, to get regular information to keep them accountable. You know, on their on with their New Year's resolution.

Pam Sherman  11:21  
Well, I have a private Facebook group called the perfect balanced tribe where I post daily motivation videos, and I stay in touch with them. I also do private coaching. And that's really, I help women on there, you know, I have a whole YouTube channel, Pam Sherman, the perfect balance that I got max of a 10 minute playlist because I got so sick of people saying I don't have time to work out. Most of those workouts are strength based saying you know what, I'm going to help you move for 10 minutes, you're gonna feel great the rest of the day. To help mostly women, you got to get off the elliptical and stop thinking Pilates isn't enough, you really have to strength train, you have to put load on your muscles, you have to get uncomfortable. Most of the day, we're comfortable all of us sitting here driving, you know, doing whatever in the house, getting uncomfortable in your workouts really is going to help you have better health for the rest of your life. Nice.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  12:14  
And so, you know, let's say I'm someone who I set some new year's resolutions. And I'm going, I'm just going along. I don't know if they're, I think I'm slipping up from time to time. But instead of quitting, I'm gonna keep trying again. What recommendation is there just some practical recommendation that you would have for me?

Pam Sherman  12:39  
Yes, it's gonna sound silly, but I would get sticky notes, put them in your bathroom, put them on your desk, put them in your car as a reminder of what you're working on. And then once you got it, then the sticky note changes to the next thing you're going to work on. But as humans, we have 800 things we have to do every day. And it's easy to lose focus is to keep your goals front and center. What are your goals, you want to be able to do 10 Push ups, that's doable. But you just have to remember because life gets very busy. And it's easy. It's so easy to put our health to the side. I mean, it's Go ahead.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  13:14  
Oh, no, I agree with you big time, it is super easy. And so with the sticky notes, I think it's a really great reminder, you put things up around to remind you of the goals that you have set. And when it comes to goals. You had mentioned SMART goals earlier, and I don't know if everyone else knows about smart, smart goals. Could you elaborate on smart goals? Pam? Yes.

Pam Sherman  13:37  
So the s has the s

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  13:42  
strategic, strategic,

Pam Sherman  13:44  
strategic meaning they have to be doable for you. You can't say I'm gonna lose 50 pounds on them. That doesn't make any sense. They have to be actually doable and measurable. Okay. It could be pretend pushups, it could be to run a mile that's measurable. A is attainable. Again, it has to be attainable. You can't I mean, you can't have grandiose ideas, but you're going to be disappointed because you're not going to be able to reach them are realistic. Oh my gosh, come on. Let's be realistic. Can you add 10 minutes of meditation into every day? I bet you can. T is timely. So when you have something like I'm going to do it in a year, I find it's really people attain their goals if they do something within two to four weeks, six weeks at the most but our attention span kind of goes if it's longer than six weeks, so please make it timely. Like I'm going to be able to run a mile in a month. That is probably doable, even if it's a run walk. So it has great

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  14:41  
Oh yeah, that's really great. And then and then after you create the SMART goal, then you go back and create an action plan.

Pam Sherman  14:52  
Action Plans are so important. I have my clients make two to three short term goals like daily and weekly And then two to three longterm the four to six weeks, because without the shorter ones, you're not going to be able to attain your goal. So it's, the shorter ones could be, I'm going to run for two minutes and walk for a minute twice today, three times a week. But that's, that's absolutely doable. So that in a six weeks I can run a mile, it has to be action steps that lead to what you really want to shoot for. It's

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  15:24  
a nice, I love the idea of the action steps because it really it, you know, it takes the big goal, and it reduces it to just one little piece of it. And like you were saying earlier, you're not thinking about the giant, that expression how to eat elephant one bite at a time, you're not thinking about the huge massive undertaking that you're about to take part in. Now you just break all that down to like one little thing, a few little things you get to look at and really pay attention to. And by focusing on those things, the larger mission does continue to get done and comes more into focus.

Pam Sherman  16:03  
It's good. Yeah, I mean, you think people run marathons? How do they run marathon one step at a time. They don't wake up one day go, I'm gonna run 26 miles today, it takes tons of training, anything worth worth getting to takes a lot of time and effort and I want to tell all your listeners, they are worth the time it takes to reach their goals. And it feels great when you do.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  16:26  
And I'd like to share too, that it's okay to fail. If you're not successful, that's okay. Because I, you we learn a lot when we're not successful. At least. Yeah, that, you know, learning from learning from your the times that you're not successful, is kind of like stepping stones, I believe, Pam to getting to where you want to eventually be.

Pam Sherman  16:56  
Yeah, I call it falling forward. Because you're not going backwards. You learn I have every time a client. I'm gonna do this, like falls down. I say, great. I'm glad you did. Because now you know what you don't want to do next time. We all fall down, myself included. You probably do too and go okay. I don't want to do that next time. Yeah. It's a Monday. It's like, you're glad I did? I said, Yes. I am glad because that's going to really help you next time. You're in the same situation to go Oh, no, I'm gonna do I'm gonna take a different road.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  17:26  
Oh, yeah, it's phenomenal. I saw this movie recently. Nyad. And on Netflix, and boy, I knew the story but just vaguely, but to really see the movie puts it in perspective. I mean, when you have a goal not to give up in the the obstacles that Diana Nyad faced, did I mean, during the swim from Cuba to Key West? If you haven't seen the movie, yet, I highly recommend it. I highly recommend it just you will not when you'll think of your goals. And you'll realize virtually anything is possible and for her to have done it when she's in her 60s. Just amazing.

Pam Sherman  18:15  
What Yeah, and people think I'm too old. No, you're never too old to reach your goals. I got the chills when you were just talking about that. Because it was as an athlete. I mean, I used to be an athlete. It's an incredible show of what any anyone can do when they are determined. And she was obviously very determined to reach her goal.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  18:32  
Wow. That that focus that commitment to it. Yeah, just impressive in and I think on some level, we all have some of that in us. I

Pam Sherman  18:47  
do too. I will you were about the same age Max. You remember when Terminator two came out? And Linda Hamilton did those pull ups? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had never seen a woman do strength training at that time because gyms were only in the weight room only for men. Okay, so I'm 56. I was 2023 or four when I saw that movie. I thought, wow, that would be great. That would be great. I wanted to do that for 27 years. Wow. Finally, finally I got somebody put a pull up bar in my backyard. And I started working on it. And it took me six months to get to one I did not give up. I will not give up on my goals. Now I can do pull ups, which most people don't want to do, but it was something that I wanted to do forever. So I want to tell your listeners, whatever you want to do, it's great. Don't let anybody deter you and work on it till you get there because once you do, it feels amazing.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  19:44  
Wow, that is great. So there is hope so no matter where you are, whether you are in a situation where you're falling forward, that's okay. It considered a stepping stone to your success. But there's always COVID There are always things that you can do. And feel free to reach out for support. Because there are people out there, like Pam, like people, my organization and myself, that are here to really support you and help you to achieve your wildest wellness dreams. And

Pam Sherman  20:19  
you can't ever give up Max, you can't ever give up on yourself or your health, I have more people that I see like I can't, I can't ever do that I can't ever do. Yes, you can. Your body is meant to do hard things. And you won't fall forward. But when you keep going, and it's going to be worth it every single time.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  20:41  
I totally agree and totally relate. So good luck with your new year's resolutions, and know that it's important to reach out for help if you don't have it, or if you get stuck. Pam, is there is there anything else that I missed the you know what has been on your mind recently that you hope to share with listeners

Pam Sherman  21:09  
I want your listeners to know that our are your health is a lot more than weight loss. I mean, before we started recording we talked about your aunt who had just passed was 84. And if we are lucky enough to age, if we're lucky enough to get to our 80s 70s 80s 90s. What we do today matters. And I think a lot of people just think short term, oh, I'm busy, I'm just gonna stop and grab some fast food or I'm bored, I'm just going to eat some chips. What you do every day, your future self was going, please take better care of yourself today. Because I want to feel I want you to feel good when I'm 8490 Whatever it is, I lost a brother at 60. And you always think you're gonna get to be older, you might not get to be older. But what we do now I'm so passionate about what you do now makes a huge effect on your health later on. So think about your future self. And how do you want to feel? Do you want to be strong? Do you want to be active? Do you want to be sitting down all day, I don't want to be active and busy and find doing things and traveling. But it is so important to take care of yourself now your future self is on the sidelines going? Yes, yes, yes, please take care of yourself. That is so true.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  22:19  
Because what we're doing today really does impact our future selves. And my aunt that passed. She passed, she was mobile, she was able to get around. She was clear thinking and, and just went to sleep one day and didn't wake up. But she was in her mid 80s. And I don't know about you. But for me, if I had to choose a way to go, that would be the way to go. Not suffering, right, not suffering are in the hospital are hooked up to all kinds of equipment and tools are getting shoved with all kinds of medicines and pins and needles and and now I'd rather just peacefully go in my sleep. So you know. So, you know, seeing that. It's like nice. And I've seen people go in other ways. So having heard that she went in this way was really kind of nice.

Pam Sherman  23:23  
It is. I'm sure you've seen the other people pass in in less than ideal circumstances. And it's a I think it's ideal for anybody. I watched my dad decline from Alzheimer's for three years. And it was terrible. It was it was absolutely terrible. And stress and drinking and his lifestyle played a lot into that. And I just think people don't know what they don't know. But if you hear us talking now and think wow, my lifestyle could affect how I am when I'm older. 1,000% Yes. Wow.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  23:57  
Pam Sherman, thank you for joining us today and helping us bring in the new year. Right. And thank you listeners for tuning in for another episode of Your Health Moment. I look forward to talking to you again next week. Take care, and bye for now. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Health Moment podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can visit our website, yourhealthmoment.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources that we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me on social media to send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes that you've been listening to. And don't be shy about requesting any other show topics that you might like to explore.

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